Have you ever felt that the harder you work and the more you push, the less you seem to accomplish?

It’s almost as if you’re suffering more lack and limitation in your life when you’re working so hard to create the opposite – abundance.

Life coach Christy Whitman writes that the first thing to understand is that abundance is not something that needs to be created. We have conditioned ourselves to think about abundance in financial terms – as a process of getting physical objects. But, at the root of everything you would like your money to buy is a desire to feel a certain way.

We want to experience a certain kind of energy. This is the actual thing we want from financial abundance, and also from every other field of abundance; whether that is freedom, time, choices or love.

So, the state of abundance that we’re looking for is not a group of physical conditions, but an energy that we want to flow in and out of our lives in a rich and unlimited way, says Christy. This is available to all of us, but each of us has our own particular ability to receive the abundance that is being offered.

Say each person has to collect raindrops in a storm outside. The way you relate to life gives you your own particular container to do this with. Some people have sieves, others have cups, thimbles or huge buckets to receive the rain. Christy says that some people are so bad at receiving that they are like a cement sidewalk, and the rain just bounces off of them.

The bottom line is that becoming more abundant is not about creating anything, but becoming more receptive to the abundance that is already flowing towards you. According to Christy the first step is to revamp your beliefs. If you believe that creating wealth means sacrificing a personal life; that resources are scarce; that past mistakes are preventing you from being happy, then these beliefs will keep out of your experience all the good that is trying to come in.

Once you’ve cleared some of your limiting beliefs out of the way, you open space within yourself to see life differently. In every moment there are an infinite number of things that you can pay attention to.

Some things are in a state of harmony and joy, and others are in a state of discord. It’s up to you to focus on the things that make you feel good.

Granted, says Christy, most of us were never taught to view the world through this lens. We were probably taught the exact opposite – to notice what is wrong, to point out what needs fixing.

Whatever it is we look for, we tend to find. That’s why it is so good for us to be more deliberate about where we direct our attention. It takes some discipline in the beginning, but with practice, looking for evidence of the abundance that is all around you will become your default way of viewing the world.
“And when this happens, huge shifts begin to happen – not through trying or efforting, but through allowing,” says Christy.

It doesn’t matter what kind of circumstance you find yourself in, you always have the ability to focus on something that gives you a feeling of upliftment or relief. It is important to understand that the external conditions of your life do not need to control your responses.

Make it a regular practice to appreciate all of the ways in which you already are abundant. Say to yourself, “There’s more where that came from.” Say it often. Where your attention goes, energy flows.

But, girlfriend, please don’t think this means you can just sit around being grateful and that you never have to get up to do anything.

New York Times best-selling author and writer of ‘Notes from the universe’, Mike Dooley, says it is like changing radio stations. Say you’re listening to a classical music radio station, but you wish to listen to some golden oldies instead.

Would you sit there visualising it and say: “Yes! I believe in the magic! I know thoughts become things! I can almost hear my golden oldies now. I feel them coming to me. Thank you, in advance. I am so grateful.”?

Or, after thinking about what you wanted, would you physically change the station?
Just checking. Do-be-do-be-do-wa-waaa!